To the Death
by Black Chaos
Summary: Fenris whose brother was killed by Alanna the Lioness watches and waits for the perfect chance for revenge, to the death.
1. Default Chapter

There in the shade of a looming oak a young girl sharpened a long steel blade. Manslayer was the name of the sword. The wire wrapped hilt was studded with a rich purple amethyst. Fenris perched upon a dry rock near flowing waterfall, humming all the while.  
  
"Stupid Alanna. WHY? He didn't do anything to you! Damn Alanna!" Fenris yelled.  
  
Suddenly a rustle in the brush around the base of the stream startled her out of her angry globe of tension. A huge blue-eyed wolf came hurling towards Fenris's rock. 


	2. The Past

Author's Note: Hope everyone liked the prologue and here's the true start!  
  
The wolf had surprised Fenris, but she was taken slightly aback not because of the entrance but because of the wolf itself. This wolf had a white coat with a solid black stripe stretching from the nape of his neck to the tip of the tail. The giant wolf had blue-silver eyes that were sharply alert.  
  
"Who are you wolf brother?" Fenris asked with a proud, determined tone.  
  
I am whom the forest dwellers call Zecatto, King of the Mountain Kingdom, whose true name is unpronounceable. Zecatto replied.  
  
"Well Zecatto, I am pleased to meet a wolf of such fine, umm well, class."  
  
I see I interrupted your sharpening. Nodding toward the half sharpened sword laying untended at Fenris's booted feet.  
  
"Oh, well kind of." Fenris replied with a blush.  
  
Why is a young girl here all alone? Zecatto asked kindly.  
  
"Sorry but I don't like to talk about it."  
  
Please.  
  
"All right, but it is a long story," Zecatto nodded. "Well it all started when Alanna the Lioness killed my brother a few years before my mother the Wildmage and father Numair split up. Mother wanted me to go to Queen Thayet, but father wanted me to go to Lindhall Reed but they could not decide, so I fled. For my life. For the last 5 years I have lived in solitude, away from the troubles of the world."  
  
Tortall, do you blame Tortall for the death of your brother? Zecatto asked.  
  
" Well not Tortall exactly, just some of the people," Fenris clarified.  
  
Why did your parents want to give you up?  
  
" The answer to that question is just a guess. But I think that they were so upset about John's death they forgot to love me." Fenris admitted sadly.  
  
Fenris was tired of talk and just wanted to finish her blades unfinished perfection. She glanced half-hearted at the long blade she called Manslayer. Manslayer was her Father's old magical sword she had renamed and respelled with her god-level wild magic. Fenris listened to the brook tumble playfully off the waterfall's unbroken edge. 


	3. Welcome Home

"Zecatto, why don't you come to my home," Fenris asked with a true heart.  
  
I would love to see your house, Zecatto replied with a wolf laugh.  
  
Fenris walked down a little used path headed toward the river Alanso. Along the path's spreading width, bushes of roses, willows and thistle. Down toward the end of the path lay a small barn that housed up to three horses. Just a few yards away from the barn were a small two-room house that was magically spelled to let globes of light shine and dim with just a word.  
  
Light flooded the tiny cottage from the glass windows that adorned the walls. How many years had she lived in that cottage? Fenris wasn't sure. The shelves were full of her herbs, weapons, and treasures from the life she knew. Her whole life had been changed after her brother was slain by the Lioness. Her brother it seemed was the only person who would want her around at the stables or at the library.  
  
John and Mother were the only ones that wanted her to learn, Father wanted to have her live at court and marry the heir to the throne of Tortall, Fenris thought.  
  
Troublesome thoughts? Zecatto asked.  
  
"Well mom wanted me to be able to shape shift like her, but dad wanted me to be a proper lady," came the swift reply.  
  
Alanso's shallow banks spread out into her clearing that sheltered her home from the civilizations that she hated. Fenris lead Zecatto to the barn to have him meet her horse. 


	4. Prophecy

Fenris was tired and the sun was beginning to sink below the treetops, and a red-golden light fell over the open clearing, letting the light pink roses shed their peachy pink color to take on a soft blood colored sheen. The young girl whispered into a jeweled vile her father had spelled to control weather and protect small areas of land. The words Fenris whispered were to keep skies clear so she could sleep outside, a treat she provided for herself once in a while.  
  
Zecatto walked under the foot of Fenris's rope hammock. He plopped down and rested his head on his gigantic paws. Fenris came walking over with her blankets to pad and wrap her body. Fenris laid down the blankets, and let out a leisurely sigh. But in a sudden change of mood she let out a slight laugh.  
  
Zecatto's Point of View  
  
I never really paid attention to her looks.  
  
Third Person  
  
Fenris had long waist length jet-black hair, with ruby highlights on the right fore area. Her skin was a flawless almond tan. The eyes that glistened like jewels were a sea green with violet and gold flecks. When Zecatto and Fenris had first met the girl had her hair up in a horsetail in the back with the fronts falling down to frame her perfect face.  
  
Any man would kill to have her as their lover, Zecatto murmured.  
  
"What?" Fenris asked, startled out of her distant thoughts.  
  
Nothing, Zecatto replied with a sly wolf grin.  
  
Fenris just turned away once again to stare out at the sunset. But after a few more minutes of listening to the birds Fenris threw her head back and began to recite:  
  
A girl of perfection,  
  
Waiting for a loved resurrection  
  
Revenge against a tame lioness  
  
Waiting in a dire sadness  
  
A companion of white  
  
Shall bring back the bright  
  
In her  
  
Fenris shook violently, and then fell to her knees, weeping. The leather that held the girl's hair snapped and a wave of black fell limply to her shoulders and back. The tears that rolled swiftly down Fenris's face fell on to the silken kimono to form a small dark circle.  
  
"I must get to bed..." Fenris stammered before fainting on the ground. 


	5. Questions

After about one hour Fenris woke up from her faint. No longer was the light red-gold, now the light was coming from the newly risen full moon. Fenris looked down to see her kimono was very wrinkled from the faint. Muttering about the annoyance of wrinkles Fenris got up to fix her hair and kimono. After a few minutes of stretching the girl went to change into a cotton nightgown.  
  
Why does she not want a lover? It would alleviate her pain. Well, not if she was with a child.Zecatto said to himself.  
  
Fenris returned in a nightgown with dragons of gold, blue, red, and green embroidered on the sleeves and right hip.  
  
The sheer beauty of Fenris was enough to make men drool and fight. With those lips and that chest Fenris would be more enchanting than Queen Thayet. Zecatto thought.  
  
Fenris, the wolf asked with newfound courage, why do you not have a lover?  
  
"I have my reasons," she yawned/replied.  
  
What reasons? Zecatto asked with a slightly agitated tone.  
  
"Well I guess it is because I don't want to have a weakness."  
  
A weakness?? A lover a weakness? Zecatto laughed.  
  
"Well yes. It would mean that if I fell for a man the enemy would take and torment him if they wanted an easy way to get me." Fenris stated sharply.  
  
Whatever, Zecatto replied haughtily.  
  
Fenris shook her head and laid herself down on the hammock, and fell instantly asleep. Although she slept and was calm, Zecatto couldn't help feeling ill at ease. Over and over he rolled the Prophecy through his head. Some times he would stop and find a different position to lie in. After some time of muttering and light sleeping Zecatto gave up. He trotted to the bank of the river Alanso, where a boulder jetted out over and up from the river. The large wolf sat down on the rock's edge and let out a long sad howl. In the distant night another wolf howled its depressing song, forming a duet with Zecatto. 


	6. Finding

Fenris woke up just before dawn. Looking around the fifteen-year-old girl surveyed the landscape to find Zecatto nowhere in sight.  
  
"Zecatto? Zecatto!!! Zecatto, where are you!?" Fenris whirled around looking for the massive white wolf. Unexpectedly, the girl lost her balance and fell to the ground biting her lip upon impact the lip split and bled. As blood dripped on the ground the girl swore with words that came from an array of languages. Getting up of the icy hard ground, Fenris got up to go in the cottage put on her work clothes on and heal her lip.  
  
Fenris walked into the bathhouse that was home to her tub, medicines, washbasin, and herbs. In two strides the tall girl reached the medicine cabinet. Using her rigid hands she fumbled with the lock, opening it after quite some time of cursing and mumbling. Upon opening the lock a sigh of relief escaped the annoyed girl.  
  
"Quarto ethylene rimy onyx," Fenris whispered, the words for healing over a lemon yellow vile. The magic washed over the girl's lip, sealing and mending the cut. Leaving the bathhouse Fenris's new destination was her own bedchamber. Stepping into the illuminated area of her room, she opened a mahogany drawer to grab her breeches, shirt, and tunic. Her leather breeches were tight to about the middle of her shin, where it slightly flared out to let her ankles move freely. The girl's shirt was a tan color that was the perfect backdrop for the black tunic. Off the top of her dresser she picked up a long beaten chocolate-brown belt. In one swift movement Fenris bucked her belt drooping on the right side. The sheathed Manslayer was clipped onto the low end of the loop. Stepping out into the bright morning, to once again search for Zecatto.  
  
Out in the broad daylight Fenris mumbled to herself 'Where to start, where to start.' Finally setting out towards the river the warm sun spilled down over the meadow. Humming old folk songs she went strait to the rocky shores of the river. Fenris was lucky to have made a wrong turn at her landmark to find the white wolf sleeping sprawled over the rock. If the wolf had any idea that the girl was there he gave no sign.  
  
"Zecatto wake up! WAKE UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Fenris yelled.  
  
Huh?  
  
"Get up."  
  
What?  
  
"GET UP!!!"  
  
With that last yell the wolf lurched to his feet just to fall down again. Finally after a few tries he got up and bounded towards the stable where he was to stay. 


End file.
